Awesome Transformations

For those of you that didn't know me, Gabby didn't know me, and she knows me just a little bit, and she said I didn't know your name was Paul and so some people actually think I have a twin brother named Paul, and, I do not, that's me, and, but, you'll hear Paul, you'll hear Kumi, I like to say that. My name is Paul, but my friends call me Kumi. And then if I don't, if I'm, I'm being mean to you, I said, but you can call me Paul. But, so, but I just, I'm very excited to be here with you, but before we get started, I wanted to kinda share with you my thought process as I considered whether I should continue to preach on the first Sunday of the month in December. I don't know how long I've been doing this, maybe about 10 years, on the first Sunday of the month in December, but I do feel the weight of standing before you all each time I have preached. I do not take this lightly, and I was conflicted whether I should preach or not this year. So many thanks are given to my care group who prayed for me and particularly, particularly Stephanie Yee, who came up to me and said, Kumi, just my two cents. I really like it when there's a different flavor in the pulpit and so I said, oh, OK, a different flavor and, and thank you to the men's Bible training, if you guys can make it, please come out on Tuesday nights, especially Pastor Mike and Pastor Milton as they took us through how to exposit a passage. And I had never, been through that training. I, I had a little bit when I was in college, was it 45 years ago, we had, I know I had to take an inter-session class to get units and it was, how to map out a passage and so. I didn't. how much can you learn in two weeks? So, I did pass the class, but I don't think I did really well. But going through that with Pastor Mike, Pastor Milton, and asking a lot of questions, I was able to get a, a better handle on how to exposit a passage. I also wanna thank Silas and Jonathan. I don't think they're here. Silas and Jonathan, I don't think they're here, but in college and career, at the beginning of the month I was sharing them, the last month. I don't know if I should preach, this year. I usually do it on the first, Sunday in December. And they said, they prayed for me and then they both said at different times, if you're all you're doing is explaining the word of God, and that's always gonna be beneficial, and I said, that's right guys, thanks, and, and, so in the men's Bible training I chose, Ephesians 2:1 through 10, because that's my favorite passage of scripture. I like to read that prior to communion. but it wasn't until the funeral of our dear brother Joe Pascarello. When I attended that, I heard the gospel preached there, and that's where the Lord really spoke to me to say, yes, I want you to preach on the first Sunday of December. Brad Coleman, who was in my men's Bible training group, shared with me. That when he accepted the Lord, It was Joe Pascarello that shared with him and prayed with him. And so I enjoyed listening to our men and at the end of the men's Bible training, our final session, we had the men preach for 10 minutes, and I was very impressed with the men in my group, and, and the work that they put into that, but I received some great feedback from them with a 10 minute sermonette, from this sermon and hopefully this morning they will see the fruit of their suggestions. I'm trying to talk a little bit slower because I talk too fast. So I'm gonna see if I can get better at doing that. So this morning, you will hear what the Lord has been teaching me as I have worked through this passage. Would you guys all please pray with me. Our Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks for being here with us. We thank you that on our good days and on our bad days, you always welcome us into your presence with a smile. You're happy to see us. We thank you that you've done everything necessary for us to be able to come directly into your throne room with boldness. Not by our own merit but by the blood of Jesus and His righteousness placed on us. We thank you for your incredible love, mercy, and grace to us. We just ask that your spirit would fill us this morning, fill me with your spirit to be able to communicate in a way. That people understand. Fill all the people with your spirit to receive your word. Open their minds, open their hearts up to you. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you're like me, we love to hear stories of great transformations. I love to hear the testimonies of people prior to their baptisms and just hear how the Lord orchestrated things in their life to come to Christ. And it's the Lord who who does things in our life so that we realize that he is real and that he wants a relationship with us. One incredible story of transformation is of a man in our church. Those in prison 7 times. So if you don't know who that is, that's Ronnie. but he had spent most of his life in prison. And was looking at another 24 year sentence to be added to him. God saved this man and completely transformed him. This was a career criminal, a drug addict, and a thief, and the Lord saved him. After his release, he gave up his criminal lifestyle and started working a warehouse job. The Lord has blessed this man tremendously, and now he is married and has 2 businesses. But what can make a career criminal change from a life of stealing sex and drugs to a life of honesty, sexual faithfulness and integrity. Only God can cause this type of transformation. And as amazing and inspiring as this transformation was. I think the greatest transformation of any person that has ever lived was the apostle Paul. He was a zealous persecutor of the church. In his letter to Timothy, Paul states that he was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. He called himself the chief of sinners. How did this man end up being the author of at least 13 of the books of the New Testament? It happened. Because an incredible transformation occurred in his life. Paul states it this way in 1 Timothy 1:13-14. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. The Lord met Paul on the road to Damascus and saved him. And this completely transformed Paul's life, and he became a vessel for the Lord to use, because he was now in Christ. Paul authored the book of Ephesians that we will be discussing this morning. But if you think about your life. Are there areas that you wish would be transformed? Are there things you wish you would do more of? Are there things you wish you would do less of? If you're like me, you would say, yes, yes, yes. But where can we get that power to transform? And that is what we will be discovering this morning as we look at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 to 10. If you have the notes, it's on the backside of your notes, so you can follow along there. But in our passage this morning, 01 thing I learned, men's Bible training, the plural noun proposition you're supposed to entitle your page with, it's gotta be shorter so they can fit it on top of the notes because mine is pretty long here so this is my original title, but it, it is awesome Transformations but we will see 3. Awesome transformations that God has graced us with in Christ. 3 awesome transformations that God has graced us with in Christ. And I use the word awesome in our title because I have been told that the only things that are truly awesome are things that God does. And I believe that these transformations are all worthy because they all have eternal significance. And the first of these awesome transformations that God has graced us with, is he made us alive together with Christ. So if you're following along with the notes, that's the filling. He made us alive together with Christ. But in order for the Lord to make us alive, we first have to be dead. So look at verses 1 to 3. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among them too, among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. The apostle Paul just prayed for the Ephesians in chapter one. That the eyes of their heart may be enlightened, enlightened to see the incredible riches, grace to them in Christ. To know the hope of his calling. The riches of the glory of his inheritance and the surpassing greatness of his power. All of these riches can be accessed in Christ. He now wants the Ephesians to remember what they were before Christ came into their lives. And that is the reason verse one begins with and. All of these previously mentioned graces are yours. And you were dead. But how were we dead? We were dead in our trespasses and sins. This is not speaking of physical death, but spiritual death. We were spiritually lifeless, destitute of life that recognizes and is devoted to God. We were unable to see God because of our trespasses and sins. We were unable to communicate with God. Because we were spiritually dead. We deliberately rebelled against God, not wanting anything to do with him. We walked in sin. We lived in sin. We were enslaved to sin without even knowing it. We followed the course of this world which is being led by the prince of the power of the air. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and he and his demons are working hard to blind the minds of the sons of disobedience. Who are consciously and actively in rebellion and opposition to God. If you think about this world, it is full of deceptions and distractions to take our gaze away from God. When the Bible speaks of the course of this world, is speaking of the evil world system that is organized against God. What is it that we strive for that is anti-God? Sex, money, and power. I can't imagine what it is like growing up in the world as it is today. Pornography of every type is just a finger touch away. Young people hook up with others not even knowing anything about them. Young people live with each other for years and then decide to get married. The world has devalued the intimacy of sex by oversexualizing everything. We need to be transformed out of this way of thinking. As for money, not a day goes by without me receiving an invitation to join a group to make a lot of money. Scammers use all types of methods to get your private information, to use it to steal your hard earned money. But my question is, why do I receive these every day? I received so many of these because they must work. All of us want more money and the easier it is to get it, the better. Have you heard of this one? Almost got me. I have a million dollars I wanna give you, but I need your bank information and your password so I can transfer that in and give you all of this money. Really? This is unbelievable and my secretary said, do not do that. Don't do that. And then I looked up, oh man, this is a big scam. But yeah, why would I be tempted to do that? a million bucks and they're just giving it away? Sure, I'll help you out. But, but it's just materialism is part of the world system that affects all of us. If I could make a little more money, then I would be satisfied. If I could drive this car, then I would be happy. If I could buy this house, then I could relax. Advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry that's main goal is to make you dissatisfied with your life and with your possessions. We need to be transformed out of this way of thinking. And as for power, the world tells us that you are the maker of yourself. You need to watch out for yourself and stand up for yourself. You are number one, and it's OK if you're just a little bit selfish. You need to love yourself before you love someone else. You have the power to determine what is true and define your own personal truth. You are the captain of your destiny, and you solely determine how your life will turn out. You have the power to get to heaven. As long as your good outweighs your bad. Or even worse, we make a God that is just love, that will just forgive me of my sins. But what we are doing is disregarding God's justice. We need to be transformed out of this way of thinking. And Paul reminds us that we all used to live this way when he states in verse 3, among them, among them, we too all formerly lived. We walked as children deserving the wrath of God. We did not walk in a close relationship with God. We walked in a close relationship with God's wrath. And that's why Paul tells us that we were by nature, children of wrath. Can you see that this evil world system is now working in the sons of disobedience? Can you see that you used to live in the lust of your flesh and mind and pursue these things? Can you see that the wrath of God was upon you before you received Jesus Christ as your personal savior? This is what the text means when it says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins. We need a transformation out of thinking like the world system, but we had no power to do it on our own. Let's look at what God did. Look at verses 4 and 5. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. Verse 4 starts with, but God, signifying that what Paul is going to explain is God's actions towards sinners. The following will be how God has reconciled sinful man to Himself. God is the main subject of this whole passage. He is the one that's doing the action. It was God who made us alive together with Christ, transforming us from death to life. But why would he do this? First, the text tells us that he is rich in mercy. The word rich can be defined as over abounding without measure and without limit. God's mercy has no limit. Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. And isn't it so comforting that God is rich in mercy. Secondly, It is because of God's great love with which he loved us, that he made us alive. This is God's agape love. It is unconditional love. It is a love that comes from God to undeserving sinners. I like to share with couples during premarital counseling that are in love with each other. That to truly love one another, if you really truly want to love one another, you have to be willing up, willing to give up your life. True love is the willingness to die to oneself for the benefit of the other. Can you understand why Paul describes God's love for us as great? God loved us so much that he was willing to give up his son. And Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to give up his life. This is an incredibly great love with which God loves us. We cannot do anything to earn his great love. We cannot do anything to make ourselves worthy of this great love. Ladies, I wanna share with you something that men do prior to taking you out on a date. Hopefully they actually take a shower. Maybe they might shave, and hopefully they put on clean clothes. And ladies, this is not a given in a young man's life. He may even be thoughtful and buy you gifts and speak kindly towards you. But what he is trying to do is earn your affection and love. But when it comes between God and us. We cannot earn God's love. We cannot clean ourselves up and make ourselves presentable to get to this great God. We cannot give him gifts to earn his favor. We will never be worthy of God's great love. But the amazing thing. Is that though we are unworthy and unlovable, God loves us. But wait, There's more God loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions. It's so obvious, it's so obvious here that Paul doesn't want us to forget the fact that we were spiritually dead, completely unable to respond to God. And it was while we were in this condition, that God, out of his over abounding mercy, and his unconditional great, great love, that he made us alive together with Christ. When God makes us alive, he doesn't abandon us and make us figure out how to live on our own. The spirit of Christ lives in us. In Galatians 2:20, Paul tells us, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And I'm sure there are times that you don't feel like Christ is in you. But do not base your beliefs on your feelings. Base your beliefs on the word of God. We have been made alive by a relational God who knows we need help. After being made alive together with Christ, we are now able to communicate with God. We can pray to God, and he hears our prayers. Do you agree with me that this is an awesome transformation from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive? It is only by his grace or unmerited favor that God can take someone that is spiritually dead and transform them into life. That's why Paul states in verse 5, by grace you have been saved. Paul will elaborate more on this statement when he gets to verse 8, but he can't resist saying it here. Being alive together with Christ leads us to the 2nd awesome transformation that God has graced us with on your papers, if you're filling them out to get your little goody. Number 2, he raised us and seated us with himself in Christ. He raised us and seated us with himself in Christ. God transforms me from earthly minded to heavenly minded. Look at verses 6 and 7. And raised us up with him. And seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. In chapter 1 of Ephesians, Paul used the phrase in Christ, in him, in the beloved, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Lord Jesus, 14 times. And in verse 6, he adds, with him twice, and in Christ Jesus twice. So this is 18 times in the last two chapters. So Paul is continuing to show us all of the benefits and blessings of being in Christ. This is a long list, but I want you to get what Paul is trying to say here from chapter 1, verse 3. God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Verse 4, God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Verse 5, God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. Verse 6, God freely bestows His grace on us in the beloved. Verse 7, in him, we have redemption through his blood. Verse 9, God purposed in him. Verse 10 summing up all things in Christ, and at the end of verse 10, in Him we have obtained the inheritance. Obtain an inheritance. Verse 12, the first to hope in Christ. Verse 13, in Him you were sealed. Verse 15, faith in the Lord Jesus. Verse 17, in the knowledge of Him. Verse 20, brought about in Christ, and verse 23, the fullness of Him. Do you see the flow of Paul's thoughts as he wrote all of these words? We're giving these blessings because we are in Christ. Believers are raised with Christ and seated with Christ because they are in Christ. In chapter one, verse 20 Paul states that God's power raised Christ from the dead and seated him, Christ, at his God the Father's right hand in the heavenly places. Positionally speaking, we are raised with Him and seated with him in the heavenly places, because Jesus is there, and we are in Him. But practically speaking, we are raised from earthly thinking to heavenly thinking in Christ. James 3:17 tells us, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy. We no longer only think of earthly things but are transformed in our thinking to heavenly thinking. We are delivered from thinking about sex, money, and power to thinking about heavenly riches and being able to truly love and serve others. Have you experienced this type of transformation in your thinking? This is all possible because of the surpassing riches of God's grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. I love how the apostle Paul uses his superlatives when describing the attributes of God. Remember, this is the guy that had the greatest transformation in the history of man. So do you think he's excited about God's grace, mercy and love? He's experienced that in an incredible way in his life. But you can tell when he gets the chance to write about the grace, mercy and love of God that he's always adds some type of grand superlative. The word surpassing can also be translated as exceeding or incomparable. Paul does not have the words to describe God's grace. God's grace is beyond our comprehension. We cannot compare it to anything else. It surpasses anything else we have ever experienced. And in this instance, it is in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The Greek word translated kindness speaks of God's moral goodness, but it means more than that. When this word is used in a culinary context. It speaks of food that is wholesome and delicious to the taste. So a good paraphrase of Paul's words here would be that God wants to show his delicious goodness toward us. In the ages to come. In other words, he wants us to savor his gracious goodness toward us through all eternity. But you don't have to wait until eternity to savor his grace. A lot of you guys know that I like to smoke food, smoked meat, and it brings me great joy to see what to watch people savor over the smokiness of the meat, and I will ask them, do you taste the smoke? And. But think about the pleasure it brings God when we savor over his gracious kindness given to us. When he sent his son to die on a cross as our substitute and to appease his wrath toward us. Hopefully, you did that this morning while partaking of communion. I hope you savored over the delicious goodness of God's grace in your life. The means by which God made us alive are found in verses 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one can boast. It is through the surpassing incomparable riches of God's grace that we are saved. Our salvation is based on God's grace. His unmerited favor is a free gift of God. We cannot work for our salvation, but simply obtain it by faith. But what is faith? Faith cannot be a work, because Paul says, Paul says here that we are not saved by works, and he writes in Titus 3:5, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. And the blue letter Bible defines faith as it relates to Christ, as a strong conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. Faith does not earn salvation. It is only the means by which one accepts God's free gift of salvation. In Acts 16:14, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. So it is the Lord that will draw an unbeliever to Himself and open their heart to pay attention and respond. Hey. Siri, come on. In my own salvation story during the summer before my sophomore year in high school, I was coming home on a bus from the Tyler Mall, used to be called the Tyler Mall, when a man who worked at the May Company, does the May Company is not there anymore, right? at Macy's or something, but May Company, and he had a little tag, Hi, I'm so and so from May Company, and, he came and sat next to me. The bus was wide open. He came and sat next to me and my buddies they're giggling in the back of the window there's some guy sitting next to you and then he asked me. He said, he said, hey, did that Jesus loves you? And I said, no, I've never really thought about that. And he goes, he does. And he opened up his Bible and he read to me John 3:16. And right away, the next stop, boom, he's off the bus. And so, so, I'm sure he felt like he didn't do a good job of witnessing. But that started my journey to salvation. And I can't wait to see him in heaven and thank him for opening God's word to me. I had a friend group at that time and several of the girls went to church, and I asked them about my encounter. That next week, I was given a Bible with all these verses underlined. And through that summer, I kept reading those verses over and over and wondering, what do these mean? I was invited to attend the youth retreat in September, and hearing a lot of those verses explained, I believe that Jesus was who he said he was. He was the Messiah that had come to earth to die for sinners like me. After coming down the mountain from that retreat, I attended the evening service at church, and the missionary that spoke at the retreat asked me if I wanted to receive the Lord. And I said yes, and he led me in a prayer to receive Jesus' free gift of salvation. I do not know all of your spiritual conditions in this room. But if you're here today, That tells me that you, you are interested in God and who he is. Maybe someone invited you here today. Maybe you are here with a friend. But I want to tell you that church attendance cannot save you. You may be a really good person, but none of your good works can save you. I love this illustration when I'm talking to somebody. And I say, hey, let's say I want to buy you, you're really, I want to really show you how much I appreciate you. So I want to be extravagant, so I buy you a $10,000 Rolex watch. And, and I, I hold this watch out in my hand and I'm offering it to you. So while it is in my hand, is it yours? No, no, it's still mine because it's in my hand. When does this free gift become yours? Well, when you take it from my hand and receive it for yourself. And it's the same way with salvation. God is offering this free gift of salvation, and we must respond in faith and receive that free gift of salvation for ourselves. And continuing on with that illustration, let's say you think $10,000 that's way too much. Here, let, let me see, I got $20 here, let me give you $20 to help pay for this watch. $20 is not much when you're talking about $10,000 but once you give me that $20 the watch is no longer a gift because you contributed something towards it even though it is not close to the amount that it was purchased for. And it's the same way when we try to earn our salvation by being good or doing things like attending church or even giving to the church. John MacArthur explains it this way. A story is told of a man who came eagerly but very late to a revival meeting and found the workmen tearing down the tent which the meeting had been held. Frantic at missing the evangelist, he decided to ask one of the workers what he could do to be saved. The workman who was a believer, replied, you can't do anything. It's too late. Horrified, the man said, What do you mean? How can it be too late? The work has already been accomplished, he was told. There is nothing you need to do but believe it. I hope this helps you get a clear picture of what you need to do to be saved. If you have a conviction in your heart that you want to receive God's free gift of salvation, you can do it right where you're seated and say, Lord Jesus, I believe you are who you said you were. And I believe that I am a sinner and I need you to save me, and I receive your free gift of salvation. But please do not leave here this morning without asking someone else here to help answer your questions. If it were good works, that would even earn us a part of our salvation. We would all be bragging about ourselves when we get to heaven. We would not be boasting about the work of Christ. We would be boasting about the work we did that earned us a part of the way to heaven. And a place where everyone is bragging about themselves is not heaven. It is hell. But in the true heaven Jesus will receive all of the glory for earning our salvation. None of our good works earn anything toward our salvation. So some of you may be wondering, if good works can't save us, why should we do good works? And this leads us to our final awesome transformation that God graces us with in Christ. Number 3, God recreated us in Christ for good works. Number 3, God recreated us in Christ for good works. God saves us first, and in saving us, he transforms us into people that can do good works. Look at verse 10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. By beginning this verse with 4, Paul is connecting this thought with the previous thoughts. Salvation is a gift from God. Salvation is God's work, and that is how we are his workmanship. The Greek word for workmanship is the Greek word we get our English word poem from, and it speaks of that which has been artfully fashioned by God as the creator. In that sense, believers are God's work of art that he wants to put on display to the world. How have we been made God's workmanship? We were created in Christ Jesus. There's that wonderful phrase again, in Christ Jesus. Since we are created in Christ Jesus, this is only something that God can accomplish. God is the only being able to create something out of nothing. He has taken spiritually dead people and transformed them into spiritually living people. Believers have been transformed into beautiful works of art created by God. If you are a believer, you are God's artwork, God's masterpiece. And what do great artists do with their masterpieces? Do they put them in the basement for just themselves to enjoy? Do they throw them in the garbage after they are finished? No, they share their work with their community. It brings them joy to see others enjoying and appreciating their works of art. Can you see that God wants to put his masterpiece, masterpieces on display in the world? How would he do that? He has good works that he wants his masterpieces to walk in. Do you see that when you live righteously, you're putting God on display for the world to see? And another amazing thing is that we do not have to work to find these good works. God has prepared them for us. He does, he does not want us to work for these good works. He wants us to walk in these good works. They're already there for us to walk in. And I'm sure some of you may be thinking, what are these good works that God has prepared for me beforehand? Many of these good works are found in the later chapters of Ephesians. I'm gonna scan through them quickly. In chapter 4, Paul instructs believers to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called, to walk in humility and gentleness with patience, to be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit, to speak the truth in love. To put on the new self that has been created in righteousness and holiness, to lay aside falsehood and do not sin in your anger, to steal no longer and to let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth. To put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander. And to be kind to one another and forgive each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you. In chapter 5, Paul challenges believers to be imitators of God as beloved children, to walk in love, have nothing to do with immorality, impurity, greed, filthiness, silly talk, and coarse jesting. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead expose them. Walk as wise men, making the most of your time. Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Always give thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. Paul then goes on to the roles of husband and wife in marriage and how marriage is a picture of Christ and the church, and for more on that you just have to attend one of our cornerstone weddings to hear Paul's instruction on marriage. Carlos, Pastor Carlos did a great one yesterday. In chapter 6, Paul addresses family relationships, instructing children to honor their parents and fathers to not provoke their children. Paul then speaks to slaves telling them to honor their masters as slaves of Christ. He speaks to masters telling them to treat the slaves in the same way. And Paul ends this epistle with instructions on how to put on the armor of God to be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. These are some of the good works that Paul is speaking of in verse 10, that God has prepared for believers to walk in. And I know this must sound like an impossible list to follow, but God has done two things. 1, he has prepared us for these good works through the gospel by saving you. And 2, he has prepared these good works for us to walk in. These are not a list of things we have to do to be saved. We are saved by God's unbelievable grace. We are saved because of the life and work of Jesus the Messiah. He knows that if we want to experience true life, We need to walk in these good works. When we walk in these good works, we are full. All of these good works are for our good. None of these will harm us in any way. Can you see as you walk in these good works, that you are showing the world that you are God's masterpiece? People will ask you, how can you live this way? And your answer should be, to God be the glory. I am just walking in Christ and allowing him to transform me into who he wants me to be. How do we receive these awesome transformations? You can look at the title of the message. Three awesome transformations that the Lord graces us with in Christ. So what we have to do is be in Christ. I explained earlier in the message how to be saved, and if you are saved, you become in Christ. If you are in Christ, you have been transformed from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive. You have been raised and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Your thinking has been transformed, and now you can look at the world with a transformed view. A heavenly view where you can see the things that really matter. You've been transformed and given the ability to walk in the good works that the Lord has prepared for you. And the only imperative or command that the, the, that the apostle Paul gives us in the 1st 3 chapters of Ephesians, there's only one, and it's found at the beginning of verse 11. Paul commands, therefore remember. And part of that remembrance is what we just covered in verses 1 to 10. Paul is commanding us to remember that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, Completely unable to hear God and respond to him in any way. We are to remember that it was God who saved us with the surpassing riches of His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. As we remember the truth spoken on this passage, it should lead us to want to walk in the good works that the Lord has prepared for us. In the book of Revelation, Jesus has the apostle John write to the church at Ephesus in chapter Revelation 2 verses 3 to 5. Listen to these words. I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance. And that you cannot tolerate evil men and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not and you found them to be false and you and you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary. But I have this against you. That you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first. What happened to the members of the Ephesian Church? Jesus commends them for their toil and perseverance in the faith and their condemnation of evil men claiming to be apostles. They had endured hardship for the name of Christ and had not grown weary of that. But what does it mean that they left their first love? 35 to 40 years have passed since Paul wrote the book of Ephesians. And a whole new generation of believers were in the church now. They had maintained purity of doctrine and service to others, but it seemed they must have been doing these things out of obligation or duty and not out of love for the Lord. And this is a danger that can happen in all of our lives. If someone to watch, if someone were to watch you this last week. Would they say that they could tell that you love Jesus? Would they say that you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? I know these are some ouch questions, but I'm asking myself the same questions. How can I live a life that shows the world that I love Jesus and my brothers and sisters in Christ? I need to remember. Remember to walk in the good works that the Lord has prepared for me and transform me into someone that can walk in these. Because I have been transformed from death to life, because I have been raised and seated with Christ, and because I have been transformed into someone that can walk in the good works that God has prepared for me, remember, It was God's overabundant, unbelievable, unmerited favor that he saved me, even when I was an active rebellion against him. In salvation, he places me in Christ. I've received so many incredible blessings from being in Christ. I should want to walk with Christ because that is the best life that I can have. I should want to walk with Christ because of all that he has done for me. So my challenge to you this morning and to myself is remember, remember. 3.5 years ago I was blessed with a trip of a lifetime. I was at a graduation party for one of the youth groupers and I was talking to Alvin's wife Kim. Alvin is our resident pro baseball player, OK, so for those of you that don't know him, but I was talking to Alvin's wife Kim and she mentioned to me that Alvin was invited to the Seattle Mariner Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Ichiro. Now Ichiro was the best Japanese born baseball player. Up until Shohe Otani came on the scene. But Kim mentioned that she wasn't able to attend with Alvin. So my quick thinking, I asked, Huh, you think Alvin might need a wingman? And so I didn't hear anything, for about a month, so I didn't think it was going to be able to happen. But then I received a call from Alvin. And he asked me, hey, are you still interested in going? Let's see, baseball, road trip to Seattle, honoring a Japanese born player, being with one of my, being with one of my best friends in life. Yes, I'm in, and it was an incredible 3 days. I was able to attend 3 games, sitting in the owner's suite and enjoying an incredible spread of food each game. I also was able to attend several events in the community where they honored Ichiro. One of, one of these was at a museum that was all about the Japanese American experience in Seattle in the Seattle area, which was very moving for me because of my parents' experience during World War II. But the moment that impacted me the most was when there was an on-field ceremony in which Alvin was a part of, so I was on my own. So I was walking my way and trying to get onto the field when I was stopped. But then I told the attendant, oh, I'm with Alvin. And then, oh, come on in. So I was allowed onto the field. And as I walked onto the field and sat next to some pro ballplayers, I realized that it was all because I was with Alvin. I was able to experience all of that incredible weekend because I was with Alvin. In a sense I was transformed into being a pro baseball player because I was with Alvin. I was even asked for my autograph from some of the fans. But can you see that all of that free experience was allowed because I was with Alvin. I did not do anything. To, to get, receive any of that experience, but being with Alvin is great. But what about being with Christ? Or from our passions today, being in Christ. The sermon today was all about being in Christ, and that the awesome transformations that come along with that. And I hope you're encouraged to walk with Christ. The scriptures instruct instruct us to walk by the Spirit, to walk in the way of love, to walk in the light, to walk in the truth, and to walk in obedience to his commands. Remember who you are in Christ. Remember all that he has done for you to secure your place in heaven. Remember that God is offering these awesome transformations freely. And if you're not sure today that you are in Christ, once again, you can just where you're seated, you can pray and say, I receive your free gift of salvation. Thank you for what you have done for me. Please ask questions to some of us this morning. Do not leave here without having your questions answered. Let's pray together. Our gracious, marvelous, awesome Heavenly Father. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the simplicity of your word. We thank you for the simplicity of your plan of salvation. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. That opens our heart to you. That opens our minds so we can understand your scripture. Thank you, Holy Spirit for doing that for us. We thank you for your gift, your free offer, gift of salvation that you offer all of us. And I just pray that if there's any, any here today that feel that call from you that they would seek out help to know what they need to do. And for the believers here, help us to remember. Help us to remember that we are in Christ. Help us to remember that we do not have to work to find you. We just have to walk in the things that you've already prepared for us. Help us to walk with Christ and follow those instructions from Ephesians 4 to 6. We ask your blessing on our care groups, the blessing on the rest of our day. We thank you again in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.